The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-03-11
A HOSPITAL SCENE.
What 1t Costs Dissipated New Workers t
Be Treated for DeIirium Trenens.

What 1t Costs Dissipated New Workers to
Be Treated for DeIirium Tremens.
Visitors to a well known New York
hospital uptown frequently express as
constituent at the appearance and
character of the inmates Of one end of
the building. 1t is furnished much
like a first-class club house. There are
billiard and chess rooms, smoking
apartments, elegant parlors and a
choice library. The rooms face to the
south and are inundated with a flood of
cheerful sunlight every pleasant morn
ing. The latest newspapers and the
freshest magazines are always to be
found on the center tables. Above this
suite of rooms are bedrooms with iron
barred windows. Each apartment is
heated by steam, and plainly furnished.
There are no carpets on the floors.
The window curtains and the clothing
on the iron bedsteads are as white as
snow, and the brass knobs surrounding
the foot and head boards are polished
until they shine like gold. White
capped nurses fit through the CORR
doris like ghosts, and occasionally APP
palling cries are heard from darkened
rooms at the east of the edifice Con-
valescents are to be seen in the parlors
below. Nearly all are men of dignified
appearance. Many are gray-haired,
and all are well-dressed. Most of them
wear dressing-gowns and slippers. All
are well educated, and converse with
readiness on the most interesting topics
Of the day. You will find among them
a well known hotel proprietor, several
brokers and real estate dealers, one or
two journalists, few lawyers of SUI
periOr intellects, including one of I'M
rivaled brilliancy as an advocate, and
half dozen politicians. They are a
remarkable group. Ali seem to have
gone through the furnace of intense suf-
fering. Their lips are dry and are fire.
quently moistened by the action of the
tongue. Their faces are bleached and
blanched. Subdued nervousness is APP
parent in their eyes, and in their man
ner and bearing. They are courtly
and polite in intercourse, but it is the
cOurtliness and pOliteness of a party of
French mobiles who can not shake off
memories of the Reign of Terror. On
the surface all is suavity and amenity,
but beneath it there is a strong under
tow of reserve. They smile at each
jeas de mot and jeu d'esprit, but very
rarely laugh outright, and they never
slap each other on the knee in the in
tensity of their enjoyment. At times
you see them furtively watching each
other, as though lost in the depths of
mental speculation. Anon they herd
together like sheep in a panic. Some
sit at tables reading or writing with
spasmOdfc energy, and others play
billiards. A very few are trying to
work out abstruse problems at chess.
All appear to be men of wealth, aim
lessIy busy and nervous as to their
future. Care is written on their
features, and each man seems to be
cankered at the heart.
You may fancy this institution either
a lunatic asylum or home for inebri-
ates. 1t is nothing of the kind. 1t is
simply a ward in the best hospital in
New York City devoted to the cure of
men suffering from delirium tremens
and in mania pOtu. They pay forty
dollars a week entrance fee and thirty
dollars a week when cOnvalescing.
They receive the best of care and medi
cal treatment. Like old hulks and re-
claimed wrecks, they are thoroughly
tumigated, chalked anew, repainted and
reftted, and again made ready for the
sea of life. Many are thrown on their
beam ends in the first gale that follows
and are promptly returned to this dock
yard of humanity. Others are swamped
outright in typhoons of dissipation and
never again see the refitting station.
Its physicians, and nurses, however,
are ever busy, day and night, strength
ening frail crafts, bracing them at weak
points and readjusting their compasses.
Amos j. Ctnanatngs, IN n. Y. Mail
and E1OTeSS